Thanksgiving is over and now we can once again look forward to Christmas and a new HS soccer season. I have been incredibly busy since Hurricane Ike devastated the area. My house still has plastic sealing up some of the walls and one side of the garage door doesn't work right. I should be thankful, many people do not even have homes in the area.
I wonder if the insurance company will ever get around to paying so that re-construction will begin?
I have been extremely busy with teaching Art and producing Art. I have a new hardback book due out this week. I should be receiving my copy on Wednesday, December 3rd. The book is a large hardback of my artwork called, HISER-Animism Art: the spirit of nature. 40 pages in full color-containing 82 pieces of my wildlife and surreal art. I hope it is as beautiful as what I saw a preview of--I am VERY Excited! If anyone wants a copy for a Christmas present I think they should cost around $40. This is a nice coffee-table hardback book of art. Most of the art in it was created within the last three years.
I recently did a bunch of sketchbook editions of art, drawing live animals at the San Antonio Zoo and I should be producing some finished pieces from those works. My large ink 'Greater Hornbill' is almost finished. I am set to get back into doing some more inks of native Texas birds. I am nearly complete on a color piece of a family of Whistling Ducks.
I began a surreal piece of mixed media yesterday featuring a nude silhouetted woman, five statues of praying men-two with red to yellow horns, a scary tree and an orb, a floating hillside of rock with winding stairs around it, and unknown hieroglyphical writings in specific areas-it is difficult to describe as you can tell-guess you'll have to wait until I finish and scan it. If anyone out there is interested email me in a week or so to remind me and I'll send out a preview of it.
Now to the other side of me: My writing. I have written 4 new short stories recently. I finished one two days ago called, The Ballerina and the Pig, which goes with my pencil illustration of the same name. The story is along the lines of an Alice in Wonderland story with a striped shrew, a tree climbing pig, a ballerina that plays cards, a boy that rides grizzly bears, a dead boy that is annoying and sarcastic, two girls from Massachusetts, and a Mandrill baboon that is a platoon leader of a flock of swallows.
One of the funniest stories of mine, written recently is The Carnival of the Goatman and the Last Minotaur. This story will be published in an upcoming issue of Bewildering Stories. Many of my stories are bewildering and that is why the Editor of that Mag loves them so much. Along with: The Blackbird of Death, Shrike, Texas Fire Ants, and The Shark in My Backyard, this will be my 5th story featured in Bewildering Stories. I wrote an enigmatic horror short story called The Creek but I haven't done anything with it yet.
Last week my students read my story, Mountain Blackberries, and once again I was amazed at how thought provoking and what unseen insights those teenagers can come up with after reading that story. For those of you unfamiliar with it: The story is in my book, Tropical Calypso, and it is a sweet love story with a critical conflict and then a reflection of what has gone on in the past. The students seem to really enjoy the story and their responses in writing are a joy and a surprise to read.
Our Art Club is doing great things and one of our new projects that i am excited about is the "art-fence." We gathered pieces of fences torn down by Hurricane Ike and the students are painting works of art on each piece of wood. We will then erect the "art-fence" inside one of our enclosed Atrium's at the High School to commemorate our experience with the hurricane and art club '08-09.
Soccer tryouts are Monday December 1st and my after school writing and art will slow down because of the coaching until Spring Break! I look forward to a fun and exciting soccer season and many wonderful, amazing, happenings with our Art Club at Clear Brook HS! Thanks to everyone for supporting my art and writing! Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas! Doug Hiser